Bitcoin Forum

I was recently learning about bitcoin, I saw online that bitcoin was a ponzi, I later realized what the authors of the article was trying to say in summary, that ponzi is a business many investors lose while the people that set it up gained as many as possible money. I was later confused that is bitcoin actually a ponzi? I started to think of what I could not see online why bitcoin is never a ponzi and few reasons came to my mind.

Before I can tell about the reasons, we have to consider what ponzi is. What is ponzi?
I like a simple fact that says "ponzi is a scheme in which Peter money is used to pay Paul. I believe that example is a good definition on its own, in ponzi scheme, the people that started it gain the most, people that first invested are the second that gained in such a way that the people that invested late are the ones that lose.  Check the diagram below:

https://i.imgur.com/iUnTSVa.png
https://www.google.com/search?q=Ponzi+scheme+diagram&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=dxjUbGDCkvRQQM%252CsHiiS1Y747SmvM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kT6_73-JQY5mKanO5LLbcIA1iPu9A&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjK_b-cxeDqAhWDxTgGHf2MC7YQ9QEwA3oECAkQIg&biw=1261&bih=2039#imgrc=dxjUbGDCkvRQQM

As seen in the diagram, it is a pyramidal scheme but ponzi scheme work this way too, let us consider the people that started it as 6 shown on the top of the pyramid, the 216 participants as the people that invested early, the 279936 as the people that invested but not too late, the rest up to billions of people invested late before no people are investing. If the billions of people invested, their investment is used to pay those at the top but how will they gain because nobody investing again.

People that stated ponzi gain from all investors and have the lion share.

People that invested early do not gain from investors but from people that invested late

People that invested late just lose because nobody is investing again.

The scheme failed.

That is why many ponzi scheme has failed in the past, some people still run ponzi and fail because they are liars, they sell fake products and services, lying to their investors until investors to be payed outnumber those that are investing and until the whole scheme failed. I believe we all know what ponzi is now. So let us dive into why bitcoin is never a ponzi in summary.

Why bitcoin never a ponzi
1. Bitcoin is decentralized, all ponzi scheme are centralized

2. Bitcoin is not selling any fake product or service, it is completely transparent.

3. Bitcoin is over 10 years now but has never failed, the future even seem brighter than now, ponzi can not last up to 10 years.

4. Bitcoin was even portrayed on wikipedia to be for scammers, but this changed, and was portrayed good now.

5. Many goverments against bitcoin before but now they accept bitcoin, there are even over 7000 bitcoin ATMs in the world now, and bitcoin is used for trnasactions like fiats, even used as payment on some online stores worldwide now.

6. The early investors gained, they were the developers but not in a way the late investors will lose, also many early investors sold bitcoin and makes it more realistic unlike ponzi that has nothing to sell. If you get the market right, there is always still profit in bitcoin.

7. Bitcoin is a very good and easy payment method acceptable in many countries now, has any ponzi been like this? No

8.
There are many other reasons to talk about because these are only few, bitcoin is not a ponzi like bitcoin haters are depicting it, it is completely decentralized and transparent, people that want to invest now should not be discouraged, if they learn how the market fluctuates, they will gain but they should also be mindful of the risk. Bitcoin haters should stop misleading people about what bitcoin is because they know nothing about bitcoin. 

Why even bother responding to such a foolish accusation? Chill out, mate! By making an argument against it you are only dignifying whatever hollow Ponzi allegations some people are throwing against Bitcoin. The burden of proof is on them. The joke's on them. It's an insult arguing against an obvious fallacy.

Bitcoin itself is a decentralized open source coin and the price for it is decided by the market. Ponzi are pyramid scheme where the older investors profit only when new investors can be brought. People may argue that bitcoin is a ponzi due to it's speculative nature and has no value on it's own. But unlike ponzi, bitcoin is here for quite a time and has seen both rise and fall in price. It's value is not determined by any rules but due to it's demand and supply. The value of bitcoin lies as a trust-less P2P coin which is trusted by all parties due to it's integrity.

Arguing that Bitcoin isn't a ponzi is like arguing that Earth is round - any sane person knows it, and those who think otherwise are trolls or idiots. You shouldn't waste your time arguing with either.
Just like with Earth, there were times when people weren't sure, but those times are long gone. Everyone understands that if Bitcoin was a Ponzi, it would have disappeared long ago, or at least it was spoken about more often.

The discussion will never ending debate and it's not good to defend any single words about it from any close minded persons around maybe you should let them discover the real use and beauty of bitcoin so that you will have a peace of mind for your self. Just ignore those kind of people since for sure future they will eat there words and will join bitcoins for profitability purposes for their selves.

Not only that generally the pyramid schemes does not work well because of * internet* , people generally settle down and send their reviews about the scheme , product , then it ends up educating others about the same it ultimately forces the governmental body to take strict action.

Plus Bitcoin was a new thing which scared the few people at first which might have made someone add that page in wikipedia , that was totally reasonable. Even right now there are people who considers cryptocurrencies to be a hoax.


If someone is familiar with two and a half Men , the show did have an episode where Alan takes money from a lot of people and pay them using money he collected later on and due to huge trust and at the same time returns , no one ever actually takes out the money , it stays with the guy.

Season 8 episode 15,16
{If you still don't understand what a Ponzi scheme is}
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

I do think to address this question one have to tell people how *Bitcoins is not created out of thin air*

*Why the price is volatile?*

*How did people became millionaires because of Bitcoins*

There are a lot of them , but I do think for the starting part we can tell our own experience , how it helps us day to day and how it's not controlled by the government.

Plus many companies , people even government did follow suit and made cryptocurrencies !! Which means its not baseless but the technology is so advanced that it has been accepted worldwide.

I believe your own opinion is the strongest argument that you can ever put in defending the Bitcoins about not being a Ponzi scheme, therefore share , educate others ~

No need to argue with those people that keeps on telling that bitcoin is a ponzi. There's probably a reason why they are butthurt and keeps on telling that bitcoin is like that. And the reason that we can think of is that they've missed buying the dip.

They can also think that if bitcoin is a ponzi then satoshi is the first one that's only going to make money yet he's not. But where he is? he even left an enormous wealth in the network and no one even know where he is.

You can call bitcoin a Ponzi it is collapses, but so far we haven't seen fall down, on the contrary, in went as high as $20k during it's peak so how can it be called a ponzi. As other have pointed out, it's hard to argue to someone who already closes their door to bitcoin. It's not your loss actually, its their so no need to debate and push your bitcoin agenda to them. Even the creator himself didn't make a single money out of it, as compare to other ponzi schemes in history. So their argument is really flaw in the beginning.

Unfortunately, your definition is wrong. You are describing a "pyramid scheme".

A ponzi scheme is investment fraud. The operator pretends to invest the victim's money, but actually just keeps it. Generally, the operator maintains the fraud by using the victim's own money to pay out "profits".

Bitcoin cannot be a ponzi scheme because:

1. There is no operator.
2. Bitcoin is 100% transparent.

You mean with like pretty much all assets? So with that logic, gold is also a Ponzi scheme because it wouldn't rise in price without new money entering. Or maybe.. just maybe. It's just the law of supply and demand!?!??!11

Ponzi scheme and networking we're all using cryptocurrency as their payment or reward method. They make it more appealing to people they wanted to join to make them look smart explaining bitcoin as decentralised, not prone to scam so on and so on. Those who really didn't study bitcoin or blockchain will be victimised as some were too good in bluffing and making stories, in my country, these schemes were both mixed telling investing their money in an investment and they will get reward when they get more referral as their downline. Bitcoin will never be a ponzi schemes we just hope they do their research in investing.

Some people will never accept the fact that Bitcoin is nowhere close to called a ponzi scheme because they missed out the opportunity to be a part of it at it's initial stage by terming it as ponzi and now out jealously they try to bad mouth about bitcoin as it's a matter of common sense that a ponzi will not last for a decade.

That doesn't make bitcoin a ponzi.

Tether is the ponzi scheme here. Don't get confused. The end-result might look similar but bitcoin will recover from tether and survive while tether itself may disappear anytime.

I also do not understand how a paranoiac country like the US is letting Bitfinex get away with this. The only possbility comes to my mind is, they are purposefully letting them.

Usually, bitcoin is called a ponzi scheme by those who lost on bitcoin and do not understand what bitcoin is, how it works, and often do not know what a ponzi scheme really is and what are its signs.

It is very easy to distinguish a ponzi scheme. Any such scheme promises you something. As a rule, these are constant passive payments, or an increase in your income, or the promise of an increase in the growth in the value of an asset in your portfolio. Bitcoin does not promise anything, you cannot wait for any payments and you are not guaranteed income.

On the contrary, at every step we are warned about the risks associated with investing in bitcoin. Nevertheless, Bitcoin has already shown that it can generate income in the future. But everyone is forced to draw their own conclusions, nothing is promised, nothing is guaranteed.

I personally don't pay attention to any of this nonsense.  These types of articles are put together to specifically attack bitcoin or to promote another coin.  Anyone who says bitcoin is a ponzi simply has no idea what they're speaking about.

it was the earlier reason people often had that made them refuse to invest in o rstudy whatever is related to bitcoin. later when it became obvious that bitcoin cannot be surpressed we heard a different version of the tales people talked about adn they even started buying loads of it to hold. bitcoin has no business with business.

Don't tell them that Satoshi is just waiting for the price to get $1,000,000 before running away, let's keep our mouth shut about this plan okay? HAHAHA I still don't know why we need to argue about this really, after a decade of full success? $0.1 to $20000 to $9000, yet being called as ponzi, sucks. Those people who believe that bitcoin is a ponzi scam is probably believing their economist friend, " bitcoin will pop soon ", yeah okay nice prediction, so when it will popped out? dang

He even left his work with us, people these days better be thinking right, who'll make profit out of this scam, it's even decentralized *facepalm*

Agreed.


https://www.sec.gov/fast-answers/answersponzihtm.html

Scammers are using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to commit a ponzi scheme but bitcoin itself is not a ponzi scheme, satoshi never promised returns to anyone if they invested their money in bitcoin, in fact he even argued that bitcoin could be worth a lot in the future or nothing, which is true for most business and technologies anyway, if the price of bitcoin or any stock goes up it simply has to do with the law of supply and demand.

Besides blaming bitcoin for the scam is like blaming Microsoft because a bunch of scammers used their name to deceive people, the scammers are to blame not Microsoft and the same applies in the case of bitcoin.

There are people that never stops thinking like that about bitcoin. It could be that they have an agenda for doing that or they really are just bitcoin haters for doing so. Their reaction will be priceless if they witness bitcoin's skyrocketing again.

A legendary guy, left us a technology that's life changing and helpful to the world.

It can't be a ponzi because:


Actually, if you bought Bitcoin at any point in time but for December 2017 and January 2018, you'd have made profit. So 99% of people who ever touched Bitcoin and helf it would have more money now than they had when they invested. This single thing kills the idea of a ponzi scheme.

But why im still earning even I didnt recruit another investor?
Why im still able to take profit even im not an early investor?
Those people saying bitcoin is ponzi might have a bad experience investing. Because if you know how bitcoin works you wont have such mindset.

^ As I understand, OP did not tell bitcoin is a Ponzi. OP trying to explain and everything is right, you never call bitcoin is a Ponzi.
Because in my country, when you tell people that you have an x amount of bitcoin, they will say that bitcoin is a scam. That anticipation was always on their mind if they will never know that bitcoin is the decentralized and only a group of people who may we probably called a Ponzi scheme on their business using bitcoin. Because bitcoin here is easy to use as a currency. Nevertheless, if someone fully understands what is bitcoin and what is the mechanic on it and how it works, they will never call it a Ponzi scheme.

I like the argument bitcoin can't be a ponzi because it is a product with practical use, different from ponzi schemes which don't have any product, consequently no practical use. Bitcoin's success is attached to transactions of real goods and working operations, it doesn't rely solely on empty investments.
Outsiders think bitcoin is just an investment which you put some money and cashout the double in few months, that is why they think it's a ponzi, but in fact its main goal isn't to be an investment, but a currency to let you deal with others without third party interferences, very useful especially to be paid for working online for people on the other side of the world.

Indeed and that is good because he is learning thr rigjt way. Though most of us already knew about it, I'm sure many beginners will still get enlightened by his post. Nice effort.
Well, consider yourself lucky. Me? The moment I explain that bitcoin is a cryptocurrency or a sort of digital currency, they are now starting to back out. Maybe because it sounds too complicated for them? I don't know ::).
How we can do it if they are already close minded to new innovations? Based on my own experience, what I see is that they are afraid to go away from the conventional fiat.

Bitcoin itself isn't a ponzi or scam. But scammers dragged the name of bitcoin that makes it to the eyes of the other people as ponzi. They are actually using bitcoin to attract some investors. Making a fake company about bitcoin trading, introducing some the best bitcoin traders, showing good profits. That's how they do and invite some investors to put money as a fund and promise to double when they make a good trades. See? Bitcoin is legit, the ones who are just making it to be ponzi are the people who are desperate enough to do some illegal acts putting bitcoin's name.

Of course, Bitcoin is not a ponzi.
1. As was rightly pointed out by the op and some others, Bitcoin is decentralized and everyone has equal access to it (there are no privileges), whereas a ponzi is built on the hierarchy.
2. Bitcointalk is strictly against ponzis, and it would be weird if Bitcoin were itself a ponzi.
3. A person who recommends Bitcoin to someone doesn't get any direct profit of it.
4. A person who buys Bitcoin now is in the same condition as the person who bought Bitcoin at the same price more than 3 years ago (so there's no thing about 'being at the bottom').
All that being said, I understand why some people might feel it's like a ponzi.
1. Even though the op uses the same info to make a different point, one could use it as an argument for the position that Bitcoin is a ponzi and say that the early adopters are the richest if they didn't sell their shares prematurely (I'm talking about all those people who invested when Bitcoin cost less than $1k).
2. Some Bitcoin enthusiasts that promote Bitcoin talk about it as a way of getting rich and that it's something revolutionary. This kind of rhetoric is typical for ponzis.
3. Technically, one could argue that a person who gets another one into Bitcoin profits from it because if many people do this, the new bunch of investors will make the price go up.

It's obvious that bitcoin is a ponzi.

Ponzi still exist nowadays because of bitcoin, so it means that bitcoin is not a ponzi. There's a lot of new platforms spreading all over the social media that uses cryptocurrency just to attract many users in their ponzi platform. A ponzi is a pyramiding scheme, a business platform where the money you earned is from the other people who put initial investments. There's no referral bonus gained to those who recommends bitcoin to the other people. And there's no specific amount needed for you to invest in bitcoin, even a 10$ can make you money but don't expect too much.

There are always people who are against something. Bitcoin too has many haters who keep finding things to defame bitcoin in someway or the other.
All the reasons you mentioned as to why bitcoin cannot be a ponzi are very true. None of the ponzis last for a long time and bitcoin despite being completely decentralized has survived more than 10 years. I would say that it's still in it's early stage and once bitcoin is distributed worldwide then it will be more appreciated as a payment service.

maybe you forgot to add "NOT"


Want to thank to OP, Nice post. Many people may think of Bitcoin as a Ponzi scheme. If anyone looked at this pyramidal growth, it looks exactly like a Ponzi. But the points you added against Bitcoin vs Ponzi, I agreed with that. additional, Ponzi scheme is a platform where they take someone's investment and gives it to another one, Money is just change of hands. Uses of Bitcoin is completely different, it is used to transfer money quickly within a second without anyone's interference, to pay anyone through online and various purposes. So, the comparison of the Bitcoin with Ponzi doesn't make any sense.

I think you tried to say that 'It's obvious that bitcoin is not a ponzi '. The headline in your post is misleading  ;D maybe typo.

Actually there are millions of ponzi scheme all over the globe and the new adopters in the ponzi scheme always gets some benefits. When the bitcoin value become the hot topic in the market then all the other people who have lost their money into some Ponzi scheme though that its a similar type of scheme, without knowing the actual fact about the bitcoin. Nowdays people are well aware that bitcoin is not a scheme at all.

Whenever you introduce bitcoin or any of the cryptocurrency surely they'll term it a Ponzi. I'm saying this from my personal experience, I used to brief it as a technology associated development and we can't feel it as we have the traditional currency. The visible number has got specific value with the market condition. Immediately they say people aren't fool to believe what you say. Another thing it is something unique, many ponzi used bitcoin's name to make money. This too had made people think bitcoin a ponzi.

@OP sure, and in Ponzi schemes they always needs to refer people, but in Bitcoin no one cares about that, you just join the train if you want to , no one is referring you to join Bitcoin, it’s something you do when you make up your mind to do that, no one is forcing you to stay or leave, but the community will still continue to go stronger every year.


Bitcoin will definitely go far and a lot of people are going to join and start making use of it. But the way I see it , that doesn’t mean that there will not be people who are hating on it. If I remember correctly, in the beginning days of bitcoins, people used to compare bitcoin with ponzi programs.

In my understanding, bitcoin works exactly like how stocks are working hence we do not need to worry on what haters are saying. We can simply focus on saving more bitcoins instead of that :).

There are people who really do not believe in bitcoin even though they have not tried it yet. Bitcoin can never be a ponzi  because many people in different parts of the world are already using it. Scammers often use the name of bitcoin to deceive people so people get a bad impression of it.

In the past two months, somewhere in Nigeria territory promoted Bitcoin and Etherum to be used as a ponzi scheme pyramid. It crashes within 1.5 months and they started blaming each of them for falling into a big scam if bitcoin. They never understand how bitcoin works and they only keep saying bitcoin is a scam. Laziness and quick money earning is their number one priority agenda which is bad. Bitcoin and other altcoin can never be a scam because it's decentralized.

One of the best articles on the matter has in our opinion been written by Ray Dillinger, who has been working with Satoshi before the public launch of the protocol.


https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/id-known-what-we-were-starting-ray-dillinger/


We also translated this article into Vietnamese due to its outstanding quality and importance once historians look deeper into the origins of Bitcoin  :) :

https://news.bitcoinvn.io/bitcoin-neu-toi-biet-nhung-gi-chung-ta-da-bat-dau/

That explains why Satoshi will be a mystery for quite a long long time. Unless, someone will uncover his identity by serendipity. Bitcoin will never be a ponzi because the creator is not greedy. So there's really no way CSWright is what he claims to be. Because he wants all the attention and recognition.

Not only there, there's also other countries who experienced the same
using crypto doing this scheme.



The only thing that those victims can do after experiencing such act
of scam.


They are greed thinking that bitcoin/crypto is a quick access to richness.


Yeah right, making a bad impression for doing this kind of scam business.


If being used to serve the real purpose, bitcoin and those other crypto
is not a scam but a system that can be useful.

Calling Bitcoin a pyramid scheme is a very ridiculous assumption, i bet whoever write that article has no knowledge about finance. I really love the points you gave in debunking the claim.

I don't know what people stand to gain in tarnishing the image of Bitcoin. Anyway there have been a lot of attempts in the past do i am not surprised. Ponzi schemes have pyramid structure, Bitcoin don't, rather Bitcoin is structured just like our regular Dollar and Pounds, the only difference is Bitcoin is decentralized which makes it even better.

 So if Bitcoin is a pyramid scheme, Dollar is also a pyramid.

Bitcoin is not a ponzi its decentralized and a open source that we can use to pay peer to peer.Some aligation is not proven because some are using bitcoin to fraud the others by using the name of bitcoin. Maybe much better to study deeply about crypto and bitcoin so they undestand the meaning of it.

This is enough for it to be said that Bitcoin isn't a ponzi and will never be one.

I agree with what you said that all of the ponzi schemes are centralized. All of them have companies and that company has members in short the members are on the bottom of a company. That isn't the case in Bitcoin. Yes there are times where Bitcoin has been used to scam people but still its the company that is scam and not Bitcoin itself.

This is also a problem right now for those newbies who really want to learn about Bitcoin.

Those so-called "gurus" and "mentors" are teaching these newbies the wrong way with regards to Bitcoin and crypto that is why they are falling easily into different ponzi schemes that is why it would be better if you will just do a self study and will not follow what these kind of people are saying.

Laziness and quick money earning :D. 2 terms that can easily make your money into a dust. TBH, this is the reason why most people are falling into these kind of common scams. They see that they can earn money in a quick way that is why they are investing and in order to maximize the profits, they will invest what they can afford to lose and when the worst thing comes they will feel regret and disappointed. I've seen many kinds of scams and ponzi schemes already here in our country and here in the forum and I have basis already whether an investment is a scam or not.

This happens some treated bitcoin as ponzi scheme because lack of knowledge they don't know anything yet what truly bitcoin is. It's never a Ponzi scheme they should understand first how bitcoin works so that at a latter end they can avoid getting scam. It is important to have a better understanding about bitcoin.

Bitcoin is one of the successful creation without any scam because all of the process and methods are decentralized which all of the transactions are transparent which is a good thing we identify easily if the to process are taking transaction or not. Still, the bitcoin cannot escape into Ponzi scheme and scams recently there are a lot of people right now are using this coin just to promote to their platform and can double up the money of the participants

Bitcoin is not a Ponzi scheme but bitcoin can be used for the ponzi scheme this is the most easier explanation that I can give for this.


Even we already told to the people that the particular platform may be a scam still they are pushing this and proving this is not and after a few weeks and months they lately discovered this is a scam and they waste a lot of money and time but one of the saddest people right there in the last investor of the Ponzi.

This quote is as good as giving evidence that bitcoin isn't a ponzi. I don't know of any ponzi that has lasted as far as bitcoin has done. The ponzi like a pyramid and would diffuse into nothing but bitcoin for long has been there, invested on and yet still going strong against all negative response.

The impression that make people term bitcoin as a Ponzi scheme was borne out the fact that during the reign of the bankrupt and moribund MMM many of the founder of the scheme later incorporated bitcoin as means of payment and earnings thus tarnishing the image of bitcoin when the scheme finally collapsed and turned scam while many ignorants who failed to make a research assumed that bitcoin was a ponzi scheme not knowing that bitcoin just served as medium of exchange instead of the usual fiat that is synonymous to the scheme while others who care to seek more knowledge realized that bitcoin was misused.

This single fact about bitcoin should already take it out from the ponzi scheme, how will bitcoin scam a person who owns it? Only those who do not understand how bitcoin and decentralization works doubt that bitcoin is a ponzi, labeling crypto is about the knowledge that lies within the person. Now if you hear a person calling bitcoin as a scam, send the definition of decentralization from google to his phone number, let him wonder himself after.
You'll know an investment company if they are ponzi or not if they promote and influence you to buy promising that you'll get an instant profit after. Who's gonna be falling for this? GULLIBLE people, these are the ones who are easily attracted to quick rich schemes, they got what they deserved at the end. Crypto comm is hurt everytime there are a scam like this, who are we gonna blame for this? None actually.

What makes you so sure that Dollar is not pyramid ?
Dollar value has been propped up by USA military might.
Bitcoin is just sitting on top of bigger pyramid - western civilization, which is collapsing under Corona virus.

Looking at it from the Author's perspective, I think he/she is surrounded by people with the get rich quick mindset and loves ponzis which Bitcoin is unfortunately one of their payment method. If anyone without a proper knowledge lose to such scheme, BTC will be the one blamed because it's not legal anyway. Idiots like them won't say PayPal or Perfect Money scammed them if assuming that was the payment method used.
Just don't argue with them because you can't easily change such mindset m

You really can't blame ignorant people. No matter how humanity advance in technology, there will always be those people who oppose it or at least see it something as something that it isn't. We can only educate them as there is a slim chance that they will educate themselves about this.

This is a very right comment, a good example happened in three days ago till today. Bitcoin was at at 9100 three days ago and has risen to $9900. Since 10 years ago, people that can trade are able to always make profits. Bitcoin is also decentralized and very transparent than being fake like ponzi schemes.

Some can have bad experience but it is not mainly about bad experience, they are completely novice and may not get what bitcoin is.

Well, you have a point there. That is why some of my fellow countrymen when someone asking bitcoin they think already that bitcoin is a scam. They never know that a scam is a group of Ponzi using this crypto as their valuable asset to have pyramiding recruitment for the members can able to cash out the money that has been invested. Moreover, this Ponzi scheme groups that always fooling people had been given a negative reputation to bitcoin. We can stop this crypto fraudulent by educating people and don't believe doubling method, that's sounds too greedy at all.

Ponzi is basically based on payment of old investment by new investments which might either be from new investors or an existing investors of which, Bitcoin is nothing like that. It's completely a decentralized system and operates on it's own block chain.

I think that we need to add another 8 items to this list, which is also important. A distinctive feature of the Ponzi scheme is that it sets a guaranteed profit for a certain period of time. There is no guaranteed profit in bitcoin: here everyone can get a profit if the price of BTC increases, but they can also get a loss if the price of bitcoin decreases.

You are right, I will add this to it too. The profit earned in trading or investing in bitcoin depends on the bitcoin market price.

I think investing in bitcoin is profitable but also risky

Bitcoin itself is not a ponzi or a scam. but con artists dragged down the bitcoin name which made it in the eyes of others a ponzi. They actually use bitcoin to attract several investors. Creating fake companies about bitcoin trading and introducing some of the best bitcoin traders, showing good profits and getting high ratings.

All this is right about btc.. Btc is a transparent form of payment. Easy and fast. Btc is accepted almost worldwide now. Imagine if btc is being used for payment. And a lot of transactions. Or if blockchain tech is being used for accounting a lot of things.
This will bring transparency to everything and there won't be any hidden part in anything.
 


For this part, there are decentralised ponzi scheme or pyramid scheme now. And this are owned by some individuals.. Mostly in Ethereum and Tron Network. This DEX are bullshit because they are not audited in any way. And with that chart above, there is not possible success.

Having the thought or even the slightest relativism of Bitcoin to any Ponzi scheme at all is a crime to Bitcoin itself. I'm just saying though but, it's really wrong. Bitcoin is drastically different from Ponzi schemes at a lot of levels and odds. The Ponzi schemes is such that, they grow a pyramid as started by OP with a lot of referral packages of which it's growth is basically based on continual investing from investors but current and old. It's from these series of investing that ensures that the users or participants are paid but then, Bitcoin isn't like that. It is a one man thing and doesn't depend on new investors to get the go going. You get to choose the field of your participation either as a miner, trader or maybe just an investor or all of them.

Well then satoshi must be on top of pyramid, even without any marketing he made people buy it!  :D

Well, we all (most people, anyway) are certain now that Bitcoin isn't a ponzi and we can look back and smile. But it wasn't that easy a choice to make buying it some 8-10 years ago. Even until 2017 Bitcoin was thought worse than a ponzi. People thought it was a scam and a bubble that would soon burst.

It will never be a ponzi in my eyes. Most of us are just misinformed about Bitcoin, especially the Filipino community. They only understand Bitcoin because of the networking model. These scammish network marketing companies are using as front in their investment packages that are too good to be true.

People need to be educated about the real and positive use cases of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology. Since 2018, it was my passion to educate the Filipino community about the real Bitcoin and not those fraudulent companies who are using Bitcoin as front in their scammish schemes.

Youtube, Google, Wikipedia, Bitcointalk and other sources are our best friends to get the right information we need about Bitcoin.

The irrefutable facts are:
- Beginners assume that bitcoin is issued by the company that they heard of being paired with bitcoin for the first time.
- Most of the ponzi scheme victims blame bitcoin, not the company.

- As time passes, Bitcoin can become centralized depending on the services that use it such as the custodial wallet, CEX, and the ponzi scheme itself.

- The ponzi scheme will not generate a payment method because it is not a means of payment. The two of them are different things that cannot be compared.

We need the right parable for people who are truly laymen, especially those who have even heard or read that Bitcoin is a scam and ponzi scheme, or it can be said that they have basically been doctrine with negative statements about bitcoin. I always use the following basic explanations for the people around me (who have never used but have negative judgments about bitcoin) and they are easy to understand:

What exactly is bitcoin?
Bitcoin = fiat
both have exactly the same function, namely, can be exchanged for fiat and vice versa, can buy goods and services, can be stored as assets, invest in other assets, gamble, etc.
what distinguishes:
- bitcoin is a fully digitized currency, has no physical.
- fiat can be printed with any amount and can be reproduced at any time, while bitcoin is not (limited to 21 million supply units at all times). That is why the price is very volatile than gold.

Why was my friend scammed by investing in bitcoin?
Almost all cases of bitcoin investment scams are ponzi schemes and fake projects.
You need to find out which company (for example company X) is running the investment program, they are the one who scammed your friends. Bitcoin is only the means used in this investment because it is considered easier, so you shouldn't blame bitcoin for scam. Imagine company X running a ponzi scheme using fiat money or gold, would you blame fiat money in this case? This means in the same way you blame the central bank for issuing fiat or earth that produces gold.

Why do people go bankrupt with bitcoin?
Then, why do you think people can go bankrupt with fiat? I guess they have the same cause through their own fault.

And to my conclusion on the question "Why bitcoin never a ponzi?"
Because ponzi is a scheme which later becomes activity, while bitcoin is only one of means of payment besides fiat, gold or other valuable assets, and obviously bitcoin is not issued by any ponzi scheme company.